Srinivas likely to succeed Sikka at Infy

Former Senior Vice President of Infosys and Group Managing Director of PCCW Group BG Srinivas is likely to succeed Vishal Sikka at the helm of Bengaluru-based IT major.

Although many names are making the rounds for the post of CEO and MD of Infosys, Srinivas has emerged as the front runner, according to sources in the know.

Ashok Vemuri, another ex-Infoscion and CEO of Conduent, a Xerox company, is also being considered for the CEO post, even as Srinivas has an edge over him, the sources said.

"Srinivas has worked closely with both the co-founders of Infosys N R Narayana Murthy and Nandan Nilekani. Other than having a birds eye view of Infosys, Srinivas has significant global exposure," sources told DH. Nilekani recently rejoined the company as non-executive chairman and is tasked with the responsibility of looking for a new CEO & MD.

Srinivas had joined the company in 1999 as its Vice President, Enterprise Solutions and also headed company's Europe operations till 2007. At the time of his resignation, Srinivas was Senior Vice President, Market Sector - Banking, Capital Markets and Insurance.

Vemuri, on the other hand, was appointed to the board of Infosys in June 2011, while retaining his roles as senior vice president and chief of the banking division.

Both Vemuri and Srinivas had resigned from IT major in 2013, after Murthy overlooked them and appointed Sikka as the CEO of the company.

Although company's interim CEO and MD UB Pravin Rao's name was also considered for the post, sources suggest that Nomination and Remuneration Committee (NRC) decided not to pursue it. After Sikka made an unceremonious exit from the company in August this year, Rao has been at the helm of the company on an interim basis.

When contacted, Infosys declined to comment on the issue, stating, "Nothing additional to share what was said in the earnings release."

Nilekani also did not offer any comment on the issue on being enquired by DH.

Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, head of company's NRC also declined to comment on the issue, when contacted.

Investor push

It emerges that Infosys is enjoying institutional investors' confidence in appointment of Srinivas as CEO. "It would be great to have Srinivas back at Infosys. He can survive trade-off between values and modernisation, as he is seen very close to both Murthy as well as Nilekani," an institutional investor having substantial stake in Infosys told DH, on condition of anonymity.